Riza's dress twirled as they danced. Both her and Roy had gotten caught up in the music and in turn were dancing with the rest of the festival guests. People spun around the two children as women sang folk songs as they twirled around them.
Smiles were over the two children's faces as they laughed, holding each other's hands as they danced. Riza had never before had so much fun and it was exhilarating to be filled with such emotion and energy. She let go of Roy momentarily as she spun, feeling the breeze hit her face and catch underneath her dress.
"Riza!" he called out, still smiling as he ran towards her.
She didn't listen.
The young girl continued to dance and giggle, shutting out everything around her except for the concentrated fun. Slowly she got lost in the crowd of people.
"Riza!" Roy called again, but the music drowned out his voice.
So many adults. They were all surrounding him as he pushed himself through the crowd. He couldn't find the blonde girl anywhere. She vanished amongst all of the adults.
Where did she go?
She was lost in a world that she didn't understand. One that she was unfamiliar with. Riza was ignorant to the world around her, and now Roy had lost her. He lost the girl that he cherished to a world she didn't understand.
He pushed through the crowd. He needed to find her. Everyone surrounded him, not understanding his need to push through them. He was just a rude boy that never learned his manners. As he called her name, he never once said sorry as he pulled his way through.
It didn't matter. The adults didn't matter. Riza was his only concern.
"Riza!" he shouted again.
"Roy this is amazing!" Riza shouted out, looking back behind her to find that she was alone. "Roy?"
All that was in front of her was a crowd of strangers. Not one familiar face in this world was next to her. She looked up at the adults. All of their faces seemed black, nothing but a smile crossed them for that is all she saw. She didn't see the eyes of compassionate people that she knew and loved. They were all strangers of foreign identities.
"Roy!" she screamed, her eyes filling up with water. She ran around the dancing people, trying to find him.
She ached to want to ask people if they had seen him, but she was nervous. "E-Excuse me!" she would cry out, but then she would feel to cowardly to speak to any of them. Riza felt salty tears drip down her face, but no one bothered to comfort her.
"W-Why is no one helping me?" she cried to herself, wiping her eyes. She could have sworn the world was only filled with kind people who cared about each other, but why was no one willing to come up and help her when she needed help the most?
"Roy!" she cried.
"Riza!" he shouted, feeling the panic rise inside of him. He felt as though Riza was lost in a sea of people. He grabbed people shirts, asking if they had seen a young blonde girl, but they all shrugged, going back to their good times.
"Roy!" he heard faintly.
"Riza?" he called out, an uncertain tone in his voice.
"Roy!" the voice cried again in panic, "I-I'm" he heard sobbing, "I'm so scared! Roy where are you?"
He followed the voice, calling out, "Riza! Don't worry! I'm coming!"
"I'm scared!" he heard again, "Roy, where are you?"
The young boy broke through the crowd of people to find the blonde girl standing there. She was looking at the ground, wiping the tears from her eyes as she sobbed uncontrollably, calling out his name every few moments. Her voice was shaky and her body matched. She was terrified.
The boy ran up to her and hugged her body tightly to his. "Don't worry." he told her, pulling her as close to him as possible, "It's going to be okay."
She cling to his shirt tightly, crying into his chest. Even though she was here, she couldn't help but keep sobbing. Her body trembled as he held her in his two arms.
They were sitting by the side of the road as they ate another roll. Riza's eyes were still red as she sniffed every so often. She wiped her eyes every so often, trying to get any excess tears off of her cheeks. They were tear stained as she heaved large breaths. They shook as she exhaled, proof that she was still trying to hold back more tears.
"Never scare me like that again." Roy told her, taking a bite of his bread.
"Why did no one help me?" she asked, looking at her warm roll.
He stared at her.
"I thought…" she paused, squishing the bread softly, "I thought that everyone loved each other, every one helped on another." Riza looked up at Roy, "That's what I read in my books…there would always be a wicked witch…but that was only one in a million."
Roy frowned and looked towards the ground, "The world doesn't always work like a story book."
"I don't understand…"
"People can make their own choices." he continued, "Everything isn't as black and white as you think. People don't live like the text you see on paper. The world offers many scenarios that cause everyone to be different. Do you understand?"
She bit her bread and looked at the ground, "You sound like you have been hanging around my dad too much…"
He looked at her and smiled, taking her hand in his. "Come on, I think there is something you will like."
Riza followed him as he pulled her in some random direction. She nibbled softly on her bread as she didn't pay attention to where they were going.
Suddenly she felt something on top of her head. Riza looked at Roy to find him adjusting something on her head.
Riza touched it lightly with her hand, "What is this?" she brushed her fingers over it and felt petals and leaves.
Roy grabbed one for himself and showed her. There was a ring of flowers that were weaved together into a headpiece. "It's kind of like a flower hat."
She took hers off of her head and looked at it. She stared at the pink and white flowers, touching them lightly. "It's so beautiful…"
The boy began to dig in his book bag for the money until the woman at the cart spoke, "Sweetie, don't worry about paying for those. You kids just have a good time."
He looked at her, "Thank you!" he smiled.
The woman smiled in return, "No problem." She then turned her attention to Riza, "That's looks very pretty with your dress, sweetheart."
Riza blushed, "R-Really?"
The woman nodded.
"Thank you!" the young girl smiled, placing the ring of flowers back on her head.
In time the sun began to retire. Roy and Riza had made their way back to the bus stop where they boarded it and went home. The entire time they looked out the window, watching as the sun disappeared behind the country's hills.
When they got off the bus, the two walked, hand in hand as they listened to the sounds of the bugs coming to life for the evening.
A small lightening bug floated past the two.
"Hey, watch this." he told her, running over to the bug and catching it in his hands.
"Don't kill it!" Riza cried.
Roy chuckled and ran over to her, "I didn't kill it, look!" he opened his hands a bit and revealed the bug, glowing inside of his cupped hands. The bug crawled over his hands and onto Riza's fingertips, lighting once more before it took off in flight.
A smile crossed the girls face as she watched in amazement. The small lightning bug continued to fly, it's light growing bright then fading. "How amazing…" she whispered then looked back at Roy.
Fireflies surrounded them as they walked. It was as if the bugs were lighting the way home for them, showing them that their path was not filled with danger. The world to them was safe.
Riza saw her house in the distance. She smiled, knowing she was home, but also didn't want to bring her tiny feet to move close to it. She had seen the outside world, her sheltered life was broken.
The girl looked back at Roy. He opened up a new horizon to her that was filled with things she never knew. When she was with him, she wanted to learn about all the things her father never wanted her to learn. She wanted to speak with him about everything. She wanted to keep standing by his side, breathing and living with him forever.
"This was amazing…" she whispered to him, holding his hand tightly. "I have never had so much fun in all my life."
"Riza!" came a voice suddenly. She looked back to see the older Hawkeye standing at the door, waiting for her.
"You should go, your father is waiting." Roy told her, a soft smile on his face.
"Riza!" the man called again.
She looked back at him then at the ground. Her face turning a soft shade of pink. Her gaze turned back at him as she stood on her toes, leaning over and kissing his cheek quickly. "Thank you." she whispered before running off in the direction of her dad's voice.
